I often wonder how much my garden is a representation of myself. Perhaps it reflects those I care about the most or characteristics that I enjoy drawing around me. We create gardens to wrap around our homes, to comfort, protect and allow us to escape from the outside world. My feeling is that anything that one creates captures some part of the creator, but perhaps the real point of a garden is the fantasy that will let us see what we want to see in any mood.

As I wander around my garden during a break in the midsummer rain, I begin to notice details that I have never seen before. Personalities appear to me from the foliage like old friends that are dear to me and whose company is always comfortable. They are an eclectic bunch.

The wisteria over the front arch is an eccentric old professor, hair sticking out in all directions in defiance of absent-minded attempts at control and he leans slightly to one side as if pondering a thought.


My red rose mourns quietly in sorrow after the rain.

The peace and tranquility of the belladonna lilies are not dampened by rain. She raises her beautiful face to the sky, full of hope.

Shy leaves of the forest pansy curl back in on themselves and hide as the rain comes. When the sun returns they will begin to open up but it is only when Autumn falls and the extroverts of Summer retire that they will stand alone and show their true, magnificent colours.

From among the branches of my knife-leaved wattle, I am somehow reminded of an old kaleidoscope my nanna had that I loved as a child. The angular leaves are unusual and precious in my garden, and the texture and variation it provides still delights me.

I’ll leave you with one last flower that attracted my attention on this evening’s walk. A lone, pure white flower remained on the top of an agapanthus. The other flowers have withered and begun to form seed, but this single beauty stands alone and keeps last watch over her sisters.

The new year has brought extreme heat and lazy days of idleness and reflection to our home. For someone who always has things to do, places to go and people to see, the break over Christmas and New Year is a pleasure too rarely experienced in my life. I still have at least a week before returning to work and I’m not really even sure what day it is. Bliss.

The only work that needs doing in the garden is watering in the cool of the morning or evening, and we have been lucky enough to have out hot season interspersed with thunderstorms so little manual effort is required. Midsummer approaches and any efforts to fidget with existing plantings will simply meet with stress so I am inclined to leave them alone.
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I’ve never really liked lawn. Lawn doesn’t interest me. Lawnmowing duties were demoted from calling Jim’s Mowing when grass reached knee-height to a secondhand “reconditioned” machine that required a screwdriver to start and stop. More recently I’ve attempted to eradicate lawn from my garden. This has been relatively simple as lawn has never really been interested in in my garden either. I’ve maintained a spread of weeds interspersed with clumps of brown grass across my yard and I happily turned it all into a eucalyptus mulch pathway in front. However, some part of me still felt that I should keep some small patch of “green” to sit on for picnics, reading or suchlike (bindii permitting) and even considered fake turf. Hey, its come a long way right?? Continue reading »

Hello again blogosphere! You’ll have to forgive my absence for the past few weeks but the title of this post has a double meaning. First I have spent the last month in a daze from minimal sleep and frenetic study as my first year at Plant School comes to a close. What a year it has been! I’ve had tests and specimen ids for every subject, as well as our major assignments for the year due in the last couple of weeks. Thanks heavens that’s over. Interesting how studying horticulture means spending less time in the garden. Continue reading »

Spring has sprung, the grass is ris
I wonder where the birdies is!

Surely this must be any gardener’s favourite time of the year! So many things starting to emerge after too long in winter hibernation, including myself. Its been time to clean up the detritus littering my garden and my first day out in the garden needed hot showers and a couple of days rest to ease my stiff and aching muscles. Still, its a small price to pay to witness my garden emerge fresh and beautiful from its slumber like a butterfly from its cocoon.
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